Homeless figures have surpassed 17,000 for the first time, with the number in emergency accommodation last month reaching a total of 17,112.
The Department of Housing's homeless report shows that 11,793 adults and 5,319 children accessed emergency accommodation in January.
The figure is an increase of 378 since December, when 16,734 were recorded as homeless.
In November, almost 17,000 (16,996) accessed emergency accommodation, but the numbers fell in December.
That decline was not viewed as significant because reductions over Christmas occur as a result of homeless people leaving emergency accommodation to stay with friends or family.
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In January, half of adults in emergency accommodation were Irish (5,897), with the next biggest category, almost a third, coming from outside of the European Economic Area (3,572).
A further 20% came from within the EEA or the UK (2,324).
In terms of age groups, the majority of adult homeless people were aged between 25 and 44 (6,232).
The majority of adults in homeless accommodation were in the Dublin region (8,267).
Minister for Housing James Browne said he is very conscious of the rising level of homelessness in the country.
"It is unacceptable to me for there to be anybody in that homeless situation."
He said one of the main drivers of homelessness is tenants receiving notices to quit rental properties.
"That's why we are now strengthening tenants' rights to reduce those number of evictions through security of tenure in new rental legislation."
The minister said he does not expect homeless numbers to go up as a result of the new legislation.
"In fact, I believe through the increase in security of tenure, which means renters know how long they have to stay in a property, we will reduce the frequency of those notices to quit."
Minister Browne was speaking in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, where he visited a housing scheme developed by WhiteBox, which is nearing completion.
The project is being delivered by Respond in partnership with Tipperary County Council.
New rental measures will cause further rise in homelessness, say opposition parties
Sinn Féin's Spokesperson on Housing Eoin Ó Broin and the Labour Party’s Spokesperson on Housing Conor Sheehan said the Government’s new rental measures will cause homeless figures to increase significantly.
Earlier this week, the Residential Tenancies Bill was signed into law, with the rules due to take effect on Sunday.
The Government argues it is necessary to increase the supply of property and help fix the housing crisis.
However, Opposition says it will result in an enormous increase in rents.
Speaking outside Leinster House today, Mr Ó Broin said: "For tens of thousands of new renters, from Sunday, they're going to be paying thousands upon thousands of additional euros a year in rent.
"And for those who cannot afford that, more of those people are going to enter into homelessness.
"So not only is tackling the homelessness crisis not this Government's priority, they are consciously, deliberately and knowingly making it worse until they address that, then this housing and homelessness crisis, unfortunately, is going to deepen."
Watch: Minister has made homeless problem worse, says Labour's Conor Sheehan
Mr Sheehan said: "If you cast yourselves back to when the rent pressure zones were originally introduced, they were introduced because people were having double digit rent inflation in 2015 and into 2016 and we're going to go back to that.
"We are going to go back to economic evictions, and we are going to see these numbers that stand at over 17,000 go through the roof in the next year to two years."
"This crisis did not emerge overnight, and it will not resolve itself, it is because of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s failed housing policy," he added.
Social Democrats' Spokesperson on Housing Rory Hearne called on the Taoiseach to take emergency action, and implement a ban on evictions into homelessness.
He said: "What is this Government going to tolerate? Reaching 20,000? Reaching six or seven thousand children homeless?
"We have to say 'stop'. This is not okay. We have a generation of children growing up in inappropriate emergency accommodation, the Government has to take emergency action."
Reacting, the Chief Executive of the Dublin Simon Community Catherine Kenny said that the Government must move with action to deliver solutions that will have the most impact."
Ms Kenny added that behind each statistic was a human being and 2026 needed to be a turning a point.
Meanwhile, Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said it was "disgraceful to see yet another record number of people homeless" adding that was "heartbreaking" it includes 5,319 children.
